


Make Me A Promise

by Leni



Series: Cora's Daughter [13]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, The Dark Castle (Once Upon a Time)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-17
Updated: 2017-02-17
Packaged: 2018-09-25 04:10:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9802058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leni/pseuds/Leni
Summary: "What is it, Belle?" Rumpelstiltskin asked softly, voice low with concern. "You have been nervous since I arrived, and don't bother to distract me this time. What has happened?"





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Please don’t leave me.”

Belle felt the dip of the mattress first, and then the slide of Rumpelstiltskin's hand as he released his hold around her waist. Despite her hope that he would stay in her bed until morning, he was leaving now. 

_He was leaving._

The fears he had driven back with his easy agreement to follow her to her rooms, sprung back to the fore of her mind, bringing Belle to immediate alertness. Before Rumpelstiltskin could stand, she'd rolled onto her back and grasped onto his hand, holding hard and tugging him down as hard as she could.

Rumpelstiltskin sat again, then turned with puzzled golden eyes as he stared down at her. "What's the matter, sweetheart?"

Belle couldn't bring herself to put her thoughts into words. 

Instead she pulled herself into a sitting position, grabbing onto Rumpelstiltskin's arm with her other hand. Her fingers touched skin, and she breathed in relief that he couldn't be in that much of a hurry, if he had yet to summon his clothes.

Perhaps there was still a chance to convince him to stay.

"Please don't leave me," she said, leaning into him, cheek against his shoulder, and tried not to flinch at his huff of amusement. Instinctively she tightened her grasp, expecting deriding laughter or exasperation, the force of being yanked away and then lectured for her clingy behavior; but instead Rumpelstiltskin proved again that he had no idea what was expected of a princess.

At the weight of his hand on her head, petting her hair in even strokes, Belle relaxed.

But didn't let go of him.

"What is it, Belle?" Rumpelstiltskin asked softly, voice low with concern. "You have been nervous since I arrived, and don't bother to distract me this time. What has happened?"

Belle glanced at him, still desperate to find a balance between filial duty and the loyalty she felt for the man who'd become her best friend and her only constant support in her memory. The last thing she intended was to deceive him, but the truth carried likely scenarios Belle needed to avoid.

"I don't want you to go," she whispered at last, relieved that it wasn't a lie.

Rumpelstiltskin frowned and gazed at her in askance, lifting a hand into a brief caress along her cheek. "But why?"

Belle shook her head. Clutched at him more tightly.

In that moment it didn't matter that her behavior was unbecoming of a grown woman, much less the one the Dark One had chosen as his mistress. She must look the spoiled child, Belle thought, clinging to an indulgent nursemaid during a stormy night. But none of her servants had gathered her into their arms, lifting her to situate her body more comfortably across their lap. Rumpelstiltskin's hands were warm at her waist, holding her firmly against him, and he murmured in approval when Belle responded by laying her head on his chest.

"You can't possibly be afraid of being by yourself, my Belle," Rumpelstiltskin said patiently. "The Dark Castle is your home, and knows to protect you against any threat." A kiss on her temple. "You're my safest treasure, sweetheart. I will never let you be harmed."

"I know," she whispered, then turned her face into the crook of his neck, escaping scrutiny in an attempt to hide her thoughts.

His thumb at her chin prompted her to turn back and look at him instead. "Then what has you so afraid?"

Belle deliberated, fighting the same internal struggle that had been eating at her since that morning. On one hand, she would never forgive herself if her silence put Rumpelstiltskin in danger; on the other hand, if he responded to this threat as he usually did, Belle would forever carry the guilt for it.

Matricide wasn't less of a sin because her hands would be clean of blood.

"Make me a promise first," she said, her heart at her throat.

Rumpelstiltskin lifted an eyebrow. "Is this a deal, my dear?" he questioned, his voice on the brink of a giddy giggle. "You've come to see the wisdom of my ways, then?"

Belle couldn't laugh along. "Please, Rumple," she begged, squeezing his arm a little harder. "Your word."

He eyed her quizzically, but nodded. "Whatever you want, Belle."

She drew in a sharp breath. One of the first things he had taught her, was never to give such an opening when setting the terms of a new contract. At a loss for words, Belle shifted again to face him, arranging her legs to bracket his hips. Her arms coming around his neck, she whispered his name in wonder and leaned down for a long kiss to confirm her gratefulness.

His hum of contentment helped her relax into the moment.

Rumpelstiltskin trusted her. He had gone to considerable effort to make her happy, and never asked for anything she wasn't willing - and in most cases, _eager_ to give in exchange.

The kiss drifted into a more comfortable embrace, their bodies fitting easily around each other. Her forehead against his, the tips of their noses brushing together, Belle found the courage to speak her greatest fear: "Please don't hurt Mother."

The small circles his fingers had been drawing at her waist came to a sudden stop. "Ah," he said, leaning back to look into her eyes. He didn't look angry, but neither did he resemble the patient lover in the mood to spoil his lady. He looked wary, and it worried Belle that a mention of her mother could turn his mood so swiftly. What if Mother was right, and there was reason for Rumpelstiltskin to fear her now? 

"Rumple?"

"I can't think like this," he muttered, shaking his head, and the next thing Belle knew was a cloud of magic surrounding the two of them and leaving him in pants and a loose shirt, and Belle in the nightgown that had been tossed to the bottom of the bed earlier that night. He nodded to himself, then placed a finger under her jaw, directing her to look him in the eye. "What did Cora do this time?" he asked softly. Too softly.

Belle licked her lips.

Rumpelstiltskin took a deep breath. Tried again. "What do you know, Belle?"

"I know nothing!"

His eyes flared, a flash of rage crossing his expression before he banked it away. He pressed his lips together for a few seconds, and Belle suspected there were a dozen outraged demands for information bubbling under the surface. He always kept his temper under wraps around her, careful not to send her into another panicked retreat into her rooms, though this time his grasp tightened in a wordless command not to move. "Explain," he said tightly.

"She sent me another note asking for a meeting. When I said no, she told me she was already at the gates, that I should come down and listen to what she had to say."

"And did she pour more poison in your ears, my sweet girl?" he asked with a nasty edge in his voice, as if ready to believe that this time Belle had listened to her mother's warnings.

Belle shook her head. Searched for his hands and waited until he'd relaxed enough to let her fingers entwine with his. "Rumple, what's going on?" Belle asked, hoping that she would get a straight answer this time. But Rumpelstiltskin said nothing, so she tried again. "You disappear all the time, you come home smelling of perfume, and I trust you, I do, but now my mother says you've hidden Snow away and that I don't need to fear the same fate because she's found a way to break our deal. That I will be a free woman by dawn."

Rumpelstiltskin grit his teeth, growling a foul word under his breath.

Belle tightened her grasp on him, sinking her nails into the back of his hand to keep his attention on her, then pushed herself up on her knees to glance down at him. "I don't care about Snow White. I don't care about your reasons to play with her or whatever other foolish woman caught in your plans. I care that my mother was telling the truth, and I'm scared of what it means."

"Cora knows nothing."

"My mother is _not_ a fool. She knows how I feel. She wouldn't tell me that unless she's confident she can manage it."

"She can't."

"I promised you forever, Rumpelstiltskin," Belle reminded him, fear giving strength to her words. "The only way to break our deal is if you send me away, and you already swore to me that you won't."

He nodded, straining up to kiss the edge of her jaw. "Never, Belle."

"Then she has the means to kill one of us - and it's not me she wants in the ground. What does she know, Rumple?"

Rumpelstiltskin sneered. "Nothing she didn't know two decades ago."

Belle took a deep breath, lifted a hand to drift through his hair, and said quietly, "So she does know something."

"A detail. A nuisance. Do you really think I'd have let her live this long if I believed she could use that information to harm me?"

Belle considered that. Nodded. "Just promise me: whatever she tries tonight, you won't hurt her."

"I haven't so far, have I?"

She kissed the hard line of his lips. "Rumple, please."

After a few strokes, his mouth softened against hers.

"Fine," he capitulated, hands running from her shoulders down the sides of her body. "Whatever you want, my Belle."

Belle sighed in relief, happy to trust him.

It wasn't until a borrowed lifetime later - after a curse and the breaking of it - that Belle realized that when Rumpelstiltskin had told her that he wouldn't harm her mother, he had meant to keep to the letter of his promise...

...and not an inch further.

 

The End  
17/02/17

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love!
> 
> *points at comment box*


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